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Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard believes Lewis Hamilton needs to be wary of Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton's team mate made a big statement after the winter break by beating the Briton by more than 20 seconds at the Australian Grand Prix earlier this month.
Bottas also recorded the fastest lap which gained him an extra point. The Finn is currently eight points ahead of Hamilton in the driver's championship.
Hamilton has recovered well after losing the 2016 championship to ex-team mate Nico Rosberg by winning the following two driver's titles against Sebastian Vettel.
But with a fresh approach from Bottas, Coulthard warns Hamilton that giving away points could be a repeat of the events from three years ago.
“You clearly don’t want to be giving points away - as we saw against Rosberg, he lost the championship by five points,” Coulthard said to the Mirror Sport.
“Had he not blown up in Malaysia and various other things along the way, then he would have been world champion again.”
This Sunday is the second race of the 2019 calendar at the Bahrain Grand Prix with many wondering if Bottas can repeat what he did in Melbourne.
Coulthard is not too concerned for Hamilton after the race results we saw from the Australian Grand Prix.
He added: “We’re all curious to see whether Bottas is performing at a new-found level or a combination of the car not quite talking to Lewis, a bad start and generally ending up out of sequence with that early pit stop.”
“I wouldn’t read too much into it right now - I don’t think Bottas has reinvented himself and Hamilton has lost it.”
“I think it’s a combination of marginal gains for Bottas and, let’s not say a bad weekend because he qualified on pole and finished second, but it was an average weekend by Lewis’ standards. Let’s judge them when we’ve had a few races.”
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